Burnaby Poverty Reduction Strategy

About this project

The City is working to develop a community-based poverty reduction strategy in Burnaby. The project is co-led by the Burnaby Neighbourhood House (BNH) and Burnaby Family Life (BFL), with the intent to reduce poverty at a local level and support the Province’s poverty reduction strategy, TogetherBC. 

The City was awarded a $25,000 grant from the Union of BC Municipalities (UBCM) and selected the BNH and BFL to as co-leads for the project (project team). The project team will work to engage community partners in public, private and non-profit sectors as well as residents with lived and living expertise of poverty in the development of the strategy. 

The project will aim to meet the intended outcomes:

• to gain a better understanding of how poverty is defined and contextualized in Burnaby
• to identify/map existing programs and services that reduce poverty in Burnaby
• to surface issues and/or gaps that are not currently serviced in the Burnaby community
• to engage the community on poverty for better awareness, information and input
• to identify roles and responsibilities of key partners to lead a collective effort to reduce poverty
• to develop a strategy that will guide poverty reduction work in Burnaby

The intended impacts of the proposed project are:

1. Commitment of key partners to poverty reduction in Burnaby
2. Identification of local actions that can be achieved within a timeframe (with avenues for sustained funding)
3. Collective impact towards poverty reduction in Burnaby

The Burnaby Poverty Reduction Strategy project will develop through 4 phases, leading to the development of a strategy that has been created by community, for community. Throughout the process, the project team will be working with a steering committee on a comprehensive engagement plan to bring the voices of residents with lived and living expertise of poverty to the table.